Powell: Fed may cut rates in July if it sees July non-farm payrolls report early

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference that if the Fed sees the non-farm payrolls report released a few days after the July resolution ahead of time, it may cut interest rates for the first time at the July rate meeting.

The U.S. non-farm payrolls report for July showed weakness in the U.S. labour market. Powell said: ‘If we had the July jobs report before the meeting, would we have cut rates? We probably would have. We haven't made that decision, but you know, we probably would have.’